Thank you NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Kate Young for an e-ARC of this book. 

Admittedly, I did not read the first two books of this series (because I am 🌟unhinged🌟 but was able to decipher the cast and setting fairly quickly as the book opened with what felt like a gradual introduction. The writing style itself is smooth and easy to digest and the pace is steady. This story fits the bill of "cozy mystery" with a good lead-up to a murder that I've read a dozen times before. No surprises, and the plot twists that eventually appeared didn't give me whiplash as I find many thriller novels do. I knew what I was getting when I read the first chapter and the "cozy" vibes continued throughout. 

I look forward to going back to read the first two installments of this series simply for the relationship dynamics. There is such a strong friendship between such flawed characters, including our main protagonist. It's great to see the layers that are sewn into the Jane Does - I assume these were thread before the series and strengthened as the series progressed. 

Oh! And there was a dash of relationship drama, which seemed to escalate fairly quickly. While Lyla appears to have her head on straight for the majority of the time, it felt like her emotions went awry when presented with personal drama in comparison to the events that she deals with at work. 

However, I was pleasantly pleased with the full resolution!